The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Aviation Administration announced that Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) will receive a $2.3 million grant from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds to rehabilitate a runway critical to the airport's capacity. With this grant, all of FAA's Recovery Act dollars have been committed to 360 projects, many of which will remain under construction well into 2010.
    
Significantly, the FAA had anticipated being able to fund 300 ARRA projects, but because of lower-than-anticipated bids, was able to fund 360 projects.
    
"Recovery Act dollars are putting people back to work in good-paying jobs making needed improvements at airports across the country," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "Without this money, many of these airport authorities would not have had the resources to hire workers and get these projects started."
    
Under ARRA, $1.1 billion has been made available to airports nationwide. Many more airport projects than expected were eligible to be paid for with Recovery Act dollars because of low construction bids.  With today's announcement, 326 grants have been distributed to airports that support not only passenger and cargo service, but general aviation as well.
    
"Airports are the economic engine of any community, no matter what the size," said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. "They need to be maintained to make sure they are operating safely and efficiently, and the Recovery Act is helping us do that."
    
Recovery Act grants are being used at both urban and rural airports to fund a variety of different projects including facility construction, safety enhancements and the rehabilitation of runways, taxiways and other infrastructure.
    
Construction on the DFW project is expected to begin in early January and will include the rehabilitation of various concrete slabs and joint repairs on the 13,400 foot runway. This work will help enhance safety by eliminating the opportunity for debris to develop along the runway surface.